Can you upgrade a laptop graphics card (GPU)?

Some of the best laptops available today feature a dedicated (sometimes called discrete) graphics card (GPU) that can deliver much more performance compared to integrated processor (CPU) graphics. You’ll find a GPU in the majority of high-end gaming laptops, as well as laptops aimed at creators, such as the Surface Laptop Studio 2. The GPU unlocks additional levels of performance for specific purposes like gaming and editing videos. But that raises the question of upgrading that GPU.

Though a desktop is relatively easy to upgrade, a laptop’s portability comes at the cost of DIY access. You can often upgrade the RAM and storage in a laptop, but upgrading the processor or graphics card isn’t such an easy process, and in most cases, it just isn’t possible. Here’s what you need to know about upgrading the graphics card in a laptop, as well as some workaround solutions for problems you encounter.

Can you upgrade a laptop’s graphics card?

In most cases, no, not really

Upgrading a laptop’s internal GPU — like Intel’s integrated Arc or AMD’s Radeon hardware that comes bundled with modern chips — is a no-go. Integrated GPUs are, well, integrated into the motherboard along with the processor. And since you can’t upgrade a laptop’s processor without completely swapping out the motherboard, the integrated GPU is along for the ride.

Unfortunately, even discrete GPUs come soldered to the board and are designed with a proprietary cooling system that’s built to work with the specific board layout. Have you ever removed the bottom panel of a gaming laptop? It may look like a mess of wires, ribbons, and heat pipes, but it’s actually been carefully arranged to properly fit all the hardware. These laptops aren’t designed with upgrades in mind, and in most cases the easiest way to upgrade your laptop’s GPU is to buy an entirely new laptop.

Are there any laptops with an upgradeable GPU?

It’s been attempted a couple of times

A few years ago, Dell tried to offer an upgradeable laptop with the Alienware Area-51m, a massive gaming laptop with upgradeable graphics, but it was short-lived. This experiment lasted just one year before Dell unveiled the Alienware Area-51m R2, a refreshed model without any upgradeable parts. The failure resulted in legal action against Dell, and it seemed like the upgradeable gaming laptop dream was over.

However, there is still hope in the form of the Framework Laptop. Framework has been making a name for itself by offering modular 13-inch laptops and Chromebooks with many upgradeable parts. The Framework Laptop 13 is our top pick when it comes to the best upgradeable laptops, but recently, the company introduced the Framework Laptop 16, which is even better in this regard. It comes packing AMD Ryzen processors, but it also comes with an expansion bay that can optionally include an AMD Radeon RX 7700S GPU. Currently, this is the first generation of the laptop, so there’s only one GPU available, but we might see those options expands over time.

Even as it stands, this is technically an upgrade option. You can buy the Framework Laptop 16 right now without the graphics card and get the graphics expansion later. Because of its modular design, you can change the components of the Framework Laptop 16 whenever you want.

Beyond the Framework Laptop, your only real option for adding more graphics power to your laptop is through an external GPU.

What about an external GPU (eGPU)?

Get more power on demand

External GPUs are a modern (but expensive) workaround to the laptop graphics issue. Say you bought a laptop with a killer CPU but a wimpy or non-existent discrete GPU. There’s no room inside the laptop for a GPU upgrade, but you don’t want to let the rest of the laptop go to waste. This is where external GPUs come in.

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You can divide external GPUs into two main types. You might get an external GPU enclosure, which is designed to house desktop graphics cards (including some of the best GPUs on the market), or you can get an all-in-one solution, where the GPU and the enclosure are a single item. In both cases, the external GPU connects to your laptop using a cable, which is typically a Thunderbolt 4 (or USB4) cable, or an alternative solution like OCuLink or proprietary connectors like the Asus ROG Xg Mobile connector. These high-end connectors act as PCIe extensions, so it’s kind of like plugging in a GPU inside your computer.

Because they use a cable that is (usually) standard on many different laptops, external GPUs are easy to upgrade and often cheaper than buying a new laptop outright. It also allows you to do the opposite, and upgrade the rest of the laptop while keeping the GPU if it’s already working well for you.

The downsides of external GPUs

Image credit: Razer

One of the big downsides to an eGPU is that it hampers a laptop’s mobility. It’s more difficult to carry a laptop and an eGPU with you, and you’ll most often be leaving the enclosure at home. Still, it’s a handy way to have access to high-performance hardware, reserving lighter games or tasks that can run on the laptop’s internal hardware for when you’re on the go. Maybe you only need to do work while you’re on the go, but you want to use the laptop for gaming when you get home, so you can have the external GPU at the ready.

But there’s another notable problem, which is you won’t be getting the same performance out of an external GPU as you would by having that GPU inside your PC. The big problem here is bandwidth. Thunderbolt 4 boasts 40Gbps of bandwidth, with 32Gbps reserved for PCIe tunneling. That equates to around 4GB/s of bandwidth potentially available to your external GPU. A modern desktop GPU uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 connection, however, which works out to around 32GB/s, eight times more than what Thunderbolt 4 offers. That means you’re never going to be stressing the GPU itself to its limits, as it will often be sitting and waiting for the connection to carry data over.

This is part of what makes external GPUs less appealing, since you’re paying for desktop-class performance, on top of shelling out hundreds of dollars for an enclosure itself, but you’re not getting the full benefits. That’s partly why we’ve been seeing more integrated solutions that use laptop-class GPUs instead, like the One Xplayer OneXGPU. These make for far more portable GPUs that still deliver a big increase in power and leave less performance on the table.

There’s hope for external GPUs still

Despite the downsides, there’s still some hope for external GPUs. PC gaming handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally have spurred interest in eGPUs, mostly because there’s no way you’ll ever be getting a discrete GPU inside a handheld. Unlike with a laptop, the only way to get more GPU power is to buy an external GPU. Because of that, we’ve seen new external GPU offerings come up, with higher-end models like Asus’ ROG Xg Mobile, but also more mid-range options like the aforementioned One Xplayer OneXGPU and the GPD G1.

What’s more, these solutions are also embracing a new (as far as eGPUs go, that is) connector called OCuLink. This connector offers double the PCIe bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4, so while it’s still not on the same level as having a GPU built into the laptop, you’re losing a lot less performance to bandwidth constraints.

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On top of that, Thunderbolt 5 has just started to show up in laptops like the Razer Blade 18. It promises double the PCIe bandwidth, which might just be enough to make external GPUs more relevant again.

And while we’re being hopeful, let’s not forget OCuLink-2, a version of this connector that promises four times the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4, or double what Thunderbolt 5 and current OCuLink connections offer. If external GPUs gain enough traction, we could definitely see some external GPUs take advantage of this in the future.

If you want to upgrade, a desktop is the way to go

If you’d like to skip the issues that come with upgrading a laptop’s GPU, you can always build your own PC and keep it up-to-date as needed. You can always pick up a cheap laptop with a strong Wi-Fi card (or even Ethernet port) and use Windows 11’s Remote Desktop feature for access even when you’re away from your desk.